Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 243 pet loads

There may be a thread on this already but I sure cant find it. I am putting together a .243 load for my daughters model 7 for her to use on deer and antelope. I will probably lean towards the 95 ballistic tip as i have several boxes of them. Looking for some pet loads you may have. I have a few test loads to fire with imr 4350. I also have a couple pounds of RL15 to try. I'm not opposed to trying other bullets or powders. Thanks, Kelly

95 BTip
H4350

95 grain accubond ramshot Hunter shoot lights out in my wife's .243 Marlin XS7....1/2-3/4". It's crazy how good that little Finley shoots. Easily matchs most of my customs I have. Shame on The group that runs Remingtonshould have never stop making those imho. I can't remember the exact charge but will double check and post it later. I have had good luck with big game, Hunter and magnum powers from Ramshot! The accobond dies a nice job on deer speed goats and coyotes.

Nosler 95gr. and Reloader 26.

95 NBT and 41.5grs IMR4350

80 TTSX and 45.5grs IMR4350

Sweet little load for young ones and ladies:
27gr IMR4198 behind the 85gr Sierra BTHP.
Deadly on deer and super accurate in my sons Savage 110

hmmmm...I don't see a 95gr Accubond on Nosler's website. 95 BTip, perhaps?

95g SST, CCI 200, WW brass, 44.8 H4831SC.

2925fps from a 22" bbl with holes touching.

Have had good luck on deer with 85 gr TSX, 95 NBT and 105 Amaxes.

I'm currently running the 105s a touch over 2900 fuel by IMR 4350.

Have had great loads with R22, R17 and 4064, but always come back to 4350.

If you're chasing speed with the heavier bullets, R17 beat out the others for me by a fairly big margin.

90 grain ABs over 36 grains of H4895 has worked well in 22" and 24" barrels for me.

I'll always reach for 4064 or IMR's 4895...

39 grains with the 95 BTip of 4064...since you mentioned that bullet.

Any idea on velocity? I am running that bullet at ~2700 fps with w748. It is very accurate and easy to shoot, but I wasn't sure how it would do on deer.

At one time or another I have used all the powders and bullets, you all have listed above with good results, then I tried Retumbo, and 105 A-max or 105 Scenar, and NOS 105 CC, 105 Barnes ttsx, have had excellent groups, very good long range accuracy, 3050 FPS average out of 3 different 24" barrels. 2 rifles are 1 in 8 twist and the other is 1 in 9 twist.

Interesting that I almost never see mention of anyone using Retumbo, for me Retumbo, works as well or better than any thing I have come up with , and I use my .243s as truck guns all year around. I will admit I am stuck on the 105 gr. bullet it's the best all around bullet for what I do. Rio7

I reload for 4 different 243's, all Remington 700's. The one thing they all have in common is that there is one load they all shoot very well.....the 85 grain Sierra BTHP with a max load of W760 powder. I actually prefer bullets in the 58-70 grain weight for coyote hunting, and bullets weighing between 90-100 grains for deer. But, for an all around load, the 85 Sierra is hard to beat.

My 243 deer load is the Swift Sirocco 90 gr with IMR 4064 groups 1/2 inch or better. Try IMR 4064 first , then IMR or either Hog 4350 next.

Buddy of mine chrono'd that load in his son's TC Venture with 20" barrel. 6 shots averaged 2665fps. So comparable to what you're getting. Performance on our South GA deer has been fantastic.

Here's a thread you might want to peruse a bit.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3524925/Re_Pet_loads_for_the_243

My son and I have both killed deer with a 100gr NP over about 40gr of I4350, mine a spike and his a nice 10-point. Both ran about 50yards and piled up, with nice exit wounds.

Last season, I took a adult doe at 100yards with a 100gr Sierra PH over 45gr of RL26. She went 20yards with her heart in tatters. That one didn't exit. I wanted to work up a load with that powder and the NPs, but ran out of time.

Since I like two holes in my deer, I'm leaning towards premium bullets in my .243 deer loads from now on. This year, I hope to try out 90gr ABs and E-tips, and maybe the ELD-X if I can get some.

strangely enough, i have seen the best accuracy in my .243 using a 100 g flat base sierra pro hunter or hornady spirepoint with the hodgdon manual load of 33.0 g H4895. not sure how fast it is really going, but i would guesstimate 2700 out of a 24 in barrel. accuracy is remarkable, consistenly well under an inch at 100. also plows right thru whitetail does.

It's not the slickest bullet out there, but that Sierra 85gr BTHP folks are talking about will nearly always shoot well. The 95gr Ballistic Tip is another one. Both over a 4350 of your choice, and both seated just off the lands.